Anyone know of the basis behind fines in professional sports? (Such as Shaq being fined $35,000 for criticizing officials and Favre $50,000 for not cooperating with an investigation.)
I can’t think of any other profession that fines its miscreants. Why sports?
I understand that fines are the alternative to benching a player — then the fans and owners would complain. And I understand something in the leagues’ player agreements must enable it. But it still seems odd and authoritarian.
Professional sports(including NCAA Div I) are odd critters. They exist somewhere between the platonic ideal of sport and professional wrestling. Branding of individuals beyond their relationship to a team has made it even weirder. Add in the decades of master/chattel dynamic that didn’t begin to break until free agency and the stage is set for a binary star-like business arrangment like few other. Not a tail wagging the dog but more like two dogs attached at their smelliest parts. I do love the superhuman effort that arises from sports and the frozen beauty of someone in the zone performing amazing physical/mental feats, but the sausage machine that produces it. Ugh!